BILL NUMBER: AB 599	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hall

                        FEBRUARY 25, 2009

   An act to amend Section 100700 of the Health and Safety Code,
relating to laboratories.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 599, as introduced, Hall. Forensic blood alcohol testing
laboratories.
   Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health
regulates laboratories engaged in the performance of forensic alcohol
analysis tests by or for law enforcement agencies on blood, urine,
tissue, or breath for the purpose of determining the concentration of
ethyl alcohol in persons involved in traffic accidents or in traffic
violations. Existing law also requires the department to establish a
committee for the review of regulations relating to these
laboratories with this committee known as the Forensic Alcohol Review
Committee.
   This bill would exempt from those regulations laboratories that
are accredited in the forensic alcohol analysis discipline or
subdiscipline by the American Society of Crime Laboratory
Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) or by another
accrediting body approved by the Forensic Alcohol Review Committee.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 100700 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   100700.  (a) Laboratories engaged in the performance of forensic
alcohol analysis tests by or for law enforcement agencies on blood,
urine, tissue, or breath for the purposes of determining the
concentration of ethyl alcohol in persons involved in traffic
accidents or in traffic violations shall comply with Group 8
(commencing with Section 1215) of Subchapter 1 of Chapter 2 of
Division 1 of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations, as they
exist on December 31, 2004, until the time when those regulations
are revised pursuant to Section 100703.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), the department shall not
require laboratories to be licensed. 
   (c) Laboratories that are accredited in the forensic alcohol
analysis discipline or subdiscipline by the American Society of Crime
Laboratory Directors/Laboratory Accreditation Board (ASCLD/LAB) or
by another accrediting body approved by the Forensic Alcohol Review
Committee established pursuant to Section 100703, shall be exempt
from the requirements of this section.